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Share this Story: Opinion: Post-secondary credentials put to work — even if degree is in political science

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When I was in university, a friend told me I was wasting my time. He was making money hand over a fist as a welder while I was applying for student loans and studying — wait for it — political science. “Good luck finding a job with that degree,” he said.

My friend was expressing a sentiment that remains popular: your best bet is to take something practical in school that will land you a job. There is merit to this, but it’s not the whole story.

Opinion: Post-secondary credentials put to work — even if degree is in political scienceBack to video

The first thing to notice is that my friend had a good job because he studied welding at SAIT. He didn’t need a degree from a university and he didn’t want one, but his post-secondary training in welding was a prerequisite to his success in the job market.

The statistics back up this anecdotal story. Albertans with a post-secondary credential are more likely to have a job and to earn more than their less educated counterparts.

According to Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey, over 83 per cent of Albertans age 25 to 64 with a post-secondary credential were working in 2015 compared to 76 per cent of Albertans with only a high school diploma or an incomplete post-secondary education.

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According to Statistics Canada’s National Household Survey, the average bump in annual income for Albertans with an apprenticeship or trade certificate compared to those who did not go beyond high school was almost $20,000 in 2010. The average bump for Albertans with a bachelor’s degree compared to a high school diploma was $33,500.

While not everyone who graduates from a post-secondary program will land a well-paying job and keep it, the aggregate numbers suggest that the time, effort and money required to earn a post-secondary credential are likely worth it.

Where does this leave those who go to university and major in supposedly job-repelling subjects such as philosophy, English literature, history and political science?

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We know that Albertans with a bachelor’s degree earn more on average than those with an apprenticeship or trade certificate. But we also know that not all university degrees are created equal with engineers and dentists tending to make more than social workers and theologians.

A recent study by the University of Ottawa’s Education Policy Research Initiative entitled Barista or Better? found that engineering, math, computer science and business grads, “generally had higher incomes and greater earnings growth than others” but that even the “oft-maligned” social sciences and humanities yield grads who earn more than your average barista. Even if you find yourself working at Starbucks after finishing your sociology or fine arts degree, chances are that you will end up finding a different job and doing relatively well.

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All of this suggests that it makes sense to seriously consider pursuing post-secondary studies of some kind. What you decide to take is also important and, assuming you don’t have a giant trust fund, should probably be linked in some way to finding gainful employment after you graduate. For some, this will mean going into a practical program like welding or accounting. For others, their skills and interests might be better suited to a liberal arts degree that they can, with a bit of luck and hard work, parlay into a wide range of potential careers.

Employers will tell you that having a post-secondary credential will not matter much if you do poorly in the interview and that other factors such as interpersonal skills and experience may matter more than the education section of your resume. Nonetheless, having the right post-secondary credential is often a prerequisite to even getting an interview. After all, do you want to see a physiotherapist who completed an actual degree in physiotherapy or someone who watched an instructional video on YouTube?

So while post-secondary education is not the whole story when it comes to finding a good job or good employees, it often makes a huge difference — even if you major in political science.

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